page_title: United States–European Union relations
section_title: Trump administration
hierarchical_section_title: United States–European Union relations / Trump administration
caption_attribution_description: Plenary - Day 2
context_page_description: Relations between the United States of America and the European Union are the bilateral relations between that federation and the supranational organization. The USA and EU have been interacting for more than sixty years. USA-EU relations officially started in 1953 when USA ambassadors visited the European Coal and Steel Community. The two parties share a good relationship which is strengthened by cooperation on trade, military defense and shared values.
context_section_description: In a 60-minute interview in mid-January 2017, with Michael Gove of the Times of London and Kai Diekmann of Bild, U.S. president Donald Trump criticized the European Union as "basically a vehicle for Germany" claiming that it was a "very catastrophic mistake" on Angela Merkel's part to admit a million refugees - whom he refers to as "illegals". In a letter to 27 European leaders, Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, called these "worrying declarations" and claimed that the Trump administration seemed to "question the last 70 years of American foreign policy," placing the European Union in a "difficult situation". The relation soured even more when Jean-Claude Juncker jokingly said it will support the independence of the US State of Ohio and the city of Austin, Texas after Donald Trump backed the Brexit and encouraging other European Countries to follow its example.
  In May 2017, Angela Merkel met with Trump. Trump's nationalist sentiments had already strained relations with several EU countries and other American allies, to the point where after a NATO summit, Merkel said that Europeans cannot rely on United States' help anymore. This came after Trump had said the Germans were "bad, very bad" and threatened to stop all car trade with Germany.
  In July 2018, Trump stated in an interview with CBS that the European Union is one of the United States' greatest foes globally, citing “what they do to us on trade". He followed this up with a tweet protesting the EU's fining of Google $5.1 billion for a violation of antitrust laws, commenting that the EU continues to take advantage of the US.
  In December 2019, the United States urged the European countries to blacklist Hezbollah. Its ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell asked these countries to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, after a US civil contractor was killed in a rocket attack in Iraq's Kirkuk Province, which the US official said involved Kata'ib Hezbollah.
caption: Angela Merkel criticized the draft of new sanctions against Russia that target EU–Russia energy projects.[60]
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